School for Disabled May Close Due to Lack of Funds

posted on Apr 09 by Admin in the Disability News category

State-funded Philip J. Rock Center and School for the disabled in Glen Ellyn, Illinois may have to shut its doors next week. The school is home to 14 disabled children who require round the clock care and being able to move in with their parents is not an option.

“It’s a cash flow problem,” said school administrator Peggy Whitlow, “we’ve run out of cash and there’s none really flowing our way and we cannot continue to care for children and meet their needs.” The State  of Illinois is $1.7 million behind in their payments to the school, which may result in its closing on April 15, 2010. The school cannot continue to make payroll.

The school’s students range from ages six to 21. Jacob Krueger, age 9, is deaf, blind, mentally disabled and, like most of the children there, cannot bathe nor dress himself. The school is equipped with such things as hydraulic lifts to help the children get in and out of bed, wheelchairs, and other equipment they will not have access to in a regular home. There usually isn’t medically trained staff available 24 hours in a regular home as well.

“I think it would be devastating for my child as well as other kids,” said Rose Krueger, whose 9-year-old son Jacob has been there for 3 years. “I know that one person or a set of parents cannot take care of these severely handicapped kids.”

Philip J. Rock Center and School is 100 percent state funded, but has been running recently off borrowed funds. The administrator’s ability to keep the school open looks grim. The question remains, if a closer happens to this school, how long before it happens to another?